Stargate Atlantis: Travelers

(S04E05) The folks over at Stargate HQ are having a good week. First, Atlantis gets picked up for a twenty episode season five, and then they finish it off by heading into their weekend with another very good episode. It was, for the most part, another stand-alone offering, but we did get some hints at a couple things in the future. If that wasn't enough for you, they also had the good sense to hire Jill Wagner for a guest spot. My TV is better with more Jill Wagner on it.

I'm curious to hear other fan reactions to Wagner's appearance. Given the way the episode was structured, with so much focus on Larrin and Shepard, it kind of sinks or swims based on what you thought of her. Personally, I thought she was very good, but I'm also grounded in reality just enough to know that I can be bought off with pretty girls or fantastic explosions. Heck, I watched every episode of Blade: The Series. While Wagner was the best thing going in that, it was still pretty rough.

She got another pretty good role here. The Travelers are an interesting group. Given what we have seen of the Wraith in the past, the idea that a race would take to the sky in order to avoid them actually makes a lot of sense. The Firefly 'keep flyin' vibe doesn't hurt them one bit either. It's also handy because it brings another player into the showdown that we certainly must be getting at some point this season. Their run and hide defense has allowed them to get to a technological level that most populations just can't achieve with the Wraith in their midst.

That's all very cool, and I think represents a good possibility for a future episode, but my favorite part of this installment was the interaction between Shepard and Larrin. Joe Flanigan has really come into his own now, to the point that he really can carry an entire episode. And he played very well with Wagner. They bounced back and forth from flirty to adversarial so well as they kept trading the upper hand. It was fun to watch.

Kudos to the writers as well, because Shepard got some great bits this week. When he launched the ship and joked, "You should have said start by initializing the inertial dampeners." it made for a very funny scene. I also really liked the smart-ass attitude after he was captured. From his decorating advice, "Maybe just a paint job, couple of throw pillows." to giving them the name Reed Richards. It was fun stuff.

I have to admit, I did fall for their little ruse with the Wraith. When Larrin asked Shepard if he was saying they make a good team the idea of Larrin as a recurring character started bouncing around my melon. And when the Wraith got the drop on her I thought we'd been had. This was going to be a one shot deal for Wagner. Luckily, Shepard was there to save the day, and it looks like we will be seeing Larrin and her band of merry Travelers again at some point.

And that's the important bit to take from this episode. The fact that the Travelers had been actively searching for the Atlantis team after hearing about their exploits battling the Wraith make them great candidates for an alliance. And Shepard is right, they can't run forever. I'll look forward to their return, hopefully involving the war with the Wraith, more banter between Larrin and Shepard, and Rodney's reaction to meeting her. I'm also curious to see that last Wraith return, and what his reaction to Shepard will be.

Speaking of Rodney, he and the rest of the crew had a pretty easy go of it this week. It is worth mentioning though that Rodney got to bookend the episode with two great lines. He kicked it off as he lamented the fact that Shepard got to visit a primitive tribe that lives in a tropical paradise and has little or no social inhibitions. And then brought it home when he correctly surmised that Larrin was in fact hot. "Just once, I would like to be taken prisoner by the sexy alien." So say us all, Rodney. Overall, another solid outing, and season four is moving along very nicely.

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12 Comments

Here's one male who says that Jill Wagner is one God-awful, horrible actress! Does the fact that a woman is hot excuse her total lack of talent? She was embarrassing to watch. If I was a talanted female actress I would be angered that this no-talent actress is giving the word "actress" a bad name!

Okay, I just watched this episode of Stargate Atlantis tonight. I could not STAND that girl. She irritated me in so many ways, just didn't like her one bit and was actually hoping that she was going to be gone when the Wraith got ahold of her. So, I wanted to see TV Squad's review of the episode. Well, I totally agree with Margaret that this was a horrible episode. Then I noticed that most of the other commenters are probably of the male variety. You know, tight pants, low cut shirts, and flowing hair do NOT a good actress make! AND, when someone mentioned she is the girl in the Mercury ads? I had to laugh. I told my husband and he laughed and said,"Oh, yeah, that's that girl you really don't like!!". I mute those ads, just to keep from hearing her talk while she is racing around the car. So, I hope we won't see her anymore. If they were trying to make her "Vala-like", they need a better actress, someone who is more believable, someone who can act, not just run around spouting lines.I'm sorry. I really do not like this girl, as an actress. Did that come through in my comment??!!?!Have a good evening and remember to set your clocks back for an extra hour of sleep!!

I'll have some of whatever you guys are smoking. This episode was H-O-R-R-I-B-L-E. The guest actors performances including Wagner were flat and unconvincing. Flanigan was selling it, but nobody else was.

To make it worse, all the technospeak they were throwing around sounded like they cribbed it from the "Star Trek Lingo Dictionary". Where the heck was Sam during all this?

There was a role-playing game in the late seventies called Traveler that was fairly popular for those looking for a space opera alternative to the Dungeons and Dragons game. The Travelers in this episode brought those days back to mind. Good episode, good actress.

I'd never seen Jill Wagner in anything before, so this was a great introduction to her. I loved her, and I loved the chemistry between her and Joe Flanigan. Fantastic ep! I agree with everything you said in your review.

The thing that was possibly a set-up for future eps that interested me the most: Sheppard letting the Wraith go as promised. It's the second time Sheppard has proven honorable toward a Wraith; seems like the kind of thing that could be important to future Wraith-human diplomacy, possibly.